His Worst Fear
by alightintheshadows
Summary: Mustang has a nightmare he will never forget. What will it take for him to realize it wasn't real? Parental!RoyEd Oneshot.


**Hello, everyone! This morning I had this little idea and it wouldn't leave me alone, so I had to write it! I hope you guys enjoy it!**

 **I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist or the parental relationship between Ed and Roy that we all know is there.**

" _Get your ass in the car, Fullmetal!"_

" _Why should I?"_

" _Walking around in this rain will get you sick. I know you won't properly take care of yourself and will wind up on death's door before you go to a doctor. You're going to avoid all of that and get in the car."_

" _Like hell I am!"_

" _Fullmetal, as your superior, I order you to get in or I swear I will court-martial you and tell Lieutenant Hawkeye about this!"_

 _Ed's eyes bulged out of their sockets at the mention of Hawkeye. Mustang smirked, knowing he had won this round. Hearing that Ed did something stupid, like walking around in the rain in the middle of winter, would make the First Lieutenant nothing short of pissed, and there was nothing scarier than a pissed off Hawkeye._

 _Reluctantly, Ed got in the passenger seat._

" _Buckle up," the Colonel ordered with a smug smile._

" _Whatever," Ed mumbled, making no move to do as he was told._

 _The two alchemists were silent as Mustang drove toward the dorms. The Colonel glanced over at his youngest subordinate. He was amused at the scowl on the teen's face and the way he had his arms crossed over his chest. It was like he was wanting to yell at the older alchemist, but couldn't deny the fact that he was actually doing something nice for him. Mustang almost chuckled. He could practically hear the inner argument Ed was having within his mind. His amusement must have been noticeable because Ed turned his head and glared out the window._

 _Rain pounded against the windshield. It seemed to rain harder with every passing minute. Mustang inwardly sighed. There were multiple reasons for why he hated the rain, making him useless being the primary one. He also hated driving in it. Even with his windshield wipers on the fastest setting, he could barely see the car in front of him._

 _He was startled out of his thoughts when a car honked at him. He slammed on his brakes and looked out the window. There was a car in the middle of the intersection, and the driver looked scared out of her wits._

" _You just ran a red light! Who the hell taught you to drive, Colonel?" Ed yelled._

 _Mustang blinked. He hadn't even seen the light. He shook his head and continued driving._

" _Sorry, must be tired," he muttered._

 _Ed could tell something was off with his commanding officer. Mustang saw the briefest glimpse of concern in those golden eyes. He focused on the road ahead, realizing he needed to pay more attention. He stopped at the next red light._

 _The sound of screeching tires slashed through the steady pattering of the rain. Mustang's head met the steering wheel as a car hit them from behind and propelled them forward into the intersection. Everything seemed to move in slow motion. He looked out Ed's window. Even though his vision was blurred, he could see the car coming toward them._

 _The other car didn't even have time to slow down. Mustang shut his eyes as the car smashed into his own, the speed it had been going being enough to flip his car over multiple times. He heard glass shattering and metal crunching. When the car finally stopped moving, he opened his eyes to find himself hanging upside down, his seatbelt being the only thing keeping him in place. He noticed his windshield was completely gone._

" _Fullmetal?" he garbled around a mouthful of blood._

 _Nothing._

 _He looked over to the seat next to him and saw that it was unoccupied. Adrenaline surged through him. Fumbling around to undo his seatbelt, he succeeded and fell on his back. He grunted in pain as he landed on shattered glass. He crawled out of the window, ignoring his aching body's protests._

 _He had to find his subordinate._

 _Using the car as support, he shakily got to his feet. The rain was coming down even harder, if that was even possible._

" _Fullmetal!" he yelled over the roar of the rain._

 _He looked around and saw Ed lying several feet away in a pile of broken glass. The teen had to have been thrown through the windshield at some point during the wreck. He staggered forward, falling to his knees next to his subordinate._

" _Fullmetal, are you okay?" he asked, shaking Ed's shoulder._

 _Nothing._

 _He turned Ed over and was met with open, unmoving eyes. Blood gushed from a wound on his head._

" _No," the Colonel whispered._

 _He put his ear on Ed's chest, hoping to hear a heartbeat._

 _There wasn't one._

" _No...NO!"_

 _He picked Ed up and shook him by his shoulders. Ed's head lolled back and forth. Those golden eyes never blinked. Those golden eyes didn't have the fire behind them that burned within the young alchemist._

" _You can't be dead, Edward Elric! You're not allowed to die before me! Do you understand? You have such a long life ahead of you! You need to snap out of it!"_

 _Nothing._

" _What about Al? You're not going to leave him behind, are you? You promised him that you would get his body back! You can't break a promise to your little brother!" he screamed as he shook the boy harder._

 _Nothing._

 _He stopped shaking the young alchemist. Taking a few shuddering breaths, he gently set Ed back on the ground. Water was flowing down Mustang's face, and not just from the rain._

" _What about me, Ed? Are you going to leave me behind, too?" he asked, barely able to be heard over the sound of the rain._

 _He collapsed next to Ed's corpse, clutching the lifeless boy to his chest._

"EDWARD!" Mustang screamed as he fell out of his bed.

Stumbling around his dark house, he found his phone. It probably would have been easier if he had turned on the lights, but he couldn't even think straight at the moment. He had to know if Ed was okay. Dialing a number he knew by heart, he waited for someone to pick up.

"Hello?" a hushed, hollow voice answered with clear irritation.

"Al, it's Colonel Mustang. Is Ed with you?"

"Oh! Hello, Colonel," he said, any sign of irritation gone, "Yeah, he's here. He's asleep, though. Do you need to talk to him?"

Mustang let out the breath he didn't know he had been holding.

"No. It's just...nothing. Sorry to bother you, Al. Have a good night."

He quickly hung up the phone. He ran a hand through his hair and noticed how damp it was with cold sweat. Shaking his head, he went back to his bedroom and flopped back down on the bed. He had to take a few deep breaths.

"It was just a dream," he muttered to himself, "It was just a dream."

He looked to the clock. It was only midnight. He needed to go back to sleep. An hour passed. Then another.

Sleep continued to evade him.

Although he had called Al, he didn't feel any better. He needed proof that Ed was okay. Not even bothering to change, he grabbed his coat, shoes, and keys, heading out into the cold winter night.

 ***break***

Al sighed as he read his book. A little bit of guilt ate at him. He hadn't meant to sound so irritated when the Colonel called. Ed was actually getting some much needed rest, and he was worried that the phone ringing would have woken him up. He mentally shrugged. He supposed he would just apologize to the Colonel the next time he saw him.

A knock on the door nearly made him jump.

Looking at the clock, he noticed it was half past two in the morning. Who on earth would be at their dorm at this hour? Being as quiet as he could, he got up to answer the door. He was shocked to come face to face with the Colonel.

Al couldn't recall a time he had seen the Colonel out of uniform. It was a bit strange to see the man in sweatpants and sleep shirt with his coat over it. The normally confident man was pale and looked worried. It was unsettling. He had never seen the Colonel this way, and he didn't want to ever see it again.

"I'm really sorry, but I have to see him," Mustang said as he barged into the room and turned on the light.

Al was too stunned to say or do anything.

Ed slightly stirred in his sleep, but didn't fully wake up. Mustang carefully approached the bed. Seeing his youngest subordinate alive and breathing lifted a weight he didn't even realize was possible to have off of his shoulders. The fear lingering in the back of his mind that something had happened to Ed completely diminished.

Unconsciously, he reached out and stroked Ed's hair. The teen's eyes slightly cracked open.

"Dad?" he mumbled sleepily.

His subordinate had to have been dreaming. His thoughts were confirmed when Ed rubbed his eyes, staring at him incredulously when he realized who was standing by his bed.

"Colonel? What the hell are you doing here?" Ed demanded.

"I...uh…."

Mustang was at a loss for words. He hadn't meant to wake Ed up, so he didn't anticipate having this conversation with Ed. To his surprise, the boy didn't yell at him. He seemed shocked and genuinely curious. It was obvious that he was a bit miffed, but that was probably because his sleep had been interrupted.

"Sorry to wake you. Just...go back to sleep. I'll be leaving."

He turned to head out.

"No you're not. If you're going to barge into my room in the middle of the night and wake me up, you're going to give me an explanation," Ed said as he sat up.

The Colonel glanced at the younger Elric. Even though the suit of armor didn't really have facial expressions, he could tell that he wanted an explanation as well. His mind raced as it tried to come up with an alternative reason for why he was there. For once, he didn't have a plan. He sighed and faced Ed.

"I suppose you're right, but you're never going to let me live it down."

This seemed to intrigue both Elrics. Ed's first thought was that he would finally have something to hold over the Colonel, but that thought quickly faded when he noticed the man's demeanor. Something was really bothering him.

"Considering you were nice enough to give us a lead on the Philosopher's Stone, I'm sure brother can promise not to bring this up ever again," Al said in his usual polite manner.

Ed just nodded, grateful that Al spoke up for him. Mustang looked slightly embarrassed when he met his gaze.

"I had a nightmare that you died. It felt so real and bothered me so much that I had to see you for myself to make sure you were...well...alive."

Ed sat in a stunned silence. He never would have imagined his commanding officer being bothered by something as little as a nightmare. Normally, he would have laughed. However, the more he thought about it, it made sense.

While he did think the Colonel was a bastard at times, he couldn't deny that Mustang cared for each of his men. Deep down inside, _way_ deep down, he knew that included him and his brother.

"Oh."

That was the only response that Ed could come up with. Mustang shifted his stance awkwardly.

"Yeah...again, sorry for waking you. I'll be leaving."

"Wait!" Ed found himself saying, surprised that he didn't want the man to leave, "It's pretty late. You can crash here...if you want."

"Yeah!" Al chimed in, "Since I don't sleep, we have an extra bed!"

Mustang was shocked that he found himself seriously considering their offer. He had a spare uniform in his car, so he could leave straight from the dorms to the office. The exhaustion that came crashing down on him made the offer more appealing.

He looked to Ed. He was probably seeing things because of how tired he was, but he could have sworn he saw hope flicker across the boy's face.

"I guess I'll take you two up on that offer," he conceded, "Only if you allow me to take you to the train station on my way to work. I know you both are supposed to head west tomorrow morning."

"That would be great! Thanks, Colonel!" Al said, expressing his gratitude.

"I guess that would be okay."

Even though Ed tried to hide it, Mustang saw the small smile forming on the kid's face, probably without his knowledge.

Al turned off the light, leaving the three alchemists in the near darkness with only a little bit of moonlight to see by.

Mustang nearly fell asleep the minute his head hit the pillow. He looked at Ed one last time. He grinned to himself, knowing he could sleep soundly as long as Ed was okay.

Ed settled back in his bed. He rolled over so his back was to Mustang, hiding the giant smile he couldn't help but have on his face. Knowing that the Colonel cared for him enough to come check on him after having a nightmare about him brought him more joy than he would ever be willing to admit. Since he and Al were alone most of the time, it was easy to forget that family wasn't limited to blood. He would never forget that again.

 **And there it is! I hope you guys liked it! I enjoyed writing it. I should be updating War Rages on later this week, so be on the lookout for that! Anyways, let me know what you think!**

 **Until next time,**

 **alightintheshadows**


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